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The paper presents an overview of the climate risk impact on the development of the renewable energy facilities in the rural regions of Kazakhstan. Brief introduction in the current situation with climate changes forecasts and evaluation of the climate risks is presented in the article. Rural regions are the most sensitive areas to climate change. In addition to the actual farming, there is also an acute need to provide these areas with electrical energy. Another aspect is the necessity of considering the increasing occurrence of climate catastrophes and their impact on the facilities of power plants with renewable energy sources. Examples of such impact are also described in the article. The model of the development of the renewable energy sources in the specific region of Kazakhstan is provided. The climate risk factor has been introduced and considered in the model. Several ways of climate risk mitigation are considered in the paper: power grid backup; proper selection of the type of renewable energy sources (RES) based on climate risks; development of the energy storage facilities; regional grids interconnection and unit commitment. Nowadays a lot of renewable energy projects are realized worldwide. Kazakhstan adopted several programs of the renewable energy sources development as well, but climate risks have not been considered. We believe that without taking into account climate risks it is impossible to build sustainable long-term development of renewables, especially in the rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing demand for energy, limited resources of fossil fuel, as well as pollution of the environment and changes in the global climate have raised more interest about the renewable resources. Support to the use of renewable resources has become a very important part of European Union policy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the quantity of reed resources in Kurzeme region in Latvia, to produce clean energy. The use of reeds as a renewable energy resource allows economizing fossil fuels. The paper presents research results of reed resources in lakes of Kurzeme. The investigation of reed resources shows that in the region they are scattered and rational usage of them is connected with environmental aspects. There are 16 significant lakes for reed harvesting in Kurzeme region. The greatest amounts of reed resources are concentrated in the four lakes - Engures, Papes, Liepājas and Tosmares. Using distance control methods, it was stated that reed beds in Kurzeme exceeds an area of more than 7000 hectares. The potential yield of reed biomass is more than 50000 tons per year. Balanced harvesting of reed gives a positive influence on the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conversion of light into electricity is a relatively new invention. The use of solar energy has grown rapidly in the world. Advances in technology, climate change and price reduction have made PV systems very popular nowadays. However, despite the huge advances in technology, PV modules have relatively low efficiency. It is very important, because it shows how much solar energy PV modules can convert into electrical power. There are many factors that affect the efficiency of PV modules. One of them is temperature. It may seem a surprise for many people, but PV module performance is affected negatively by temperature increases. Therefore, it is important to examine the power losses of PV module overheating. The aim of this study is to determine and compare power losses from PV module overheating in several days with different weather conditions. Within this study 4 different days with various weather conditions were selected. For each day measurements of solar irradiance, solar elevation angle, solar azimuth angle, ambient temperature, PV module temperature and PV power from sunrise to sunset were obtained. The time of sunrise and sunset were different on each day. In order to achieve more objective results, the obtained data were analysed from 10:00 to 18:00. The ranges of average results in the given time period were determined and compared. The average solar irradiance ranged from 432.74 to 665.37 W⋅m-2, average ambient temperature from 13.50 to 25.35 °C, average PV module temperature from 27.03 to 43.07 °C, average PV power from 77.13 to 122.51 W⋅m-2, average power losses from PV module overheating from 0.81 to 7.23 % (from 1.25 to 7.98 W⋅m-2) and the average efficiency of PV modules ranged from 17.82 to 20.57 %. Power losses were up to 12.63 W⋅m-2, when the temperature of PV modules reached 53.5 °C. The results show that high PV module temperature causes noticeable power loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]